Line of Fire
by ForensicsFreak1988
Summary: What's really bothering Cat, besides the loss of her fantasy? Post Bodies in Motion.


**Title: Line of Fire By: ForensicsFreak1988**

**Spoiler: Bodies in Motion**

**A/N: I'm going to say this once and for all, and I'm only going to say once (online. offline, I've said it a thousand times today – Friday after BIM aired- God I take forever to post/write) WARRICK IS AN ASSHOLE. I love the hell out him, but I do NOT respect at all what he did. To CATHERINE. He ditched CATHERINE for some bimbo he's been dating for, what was it? FOUR months? How the hell does he get off doing that if life's so friggin' short? So, yeah, if you know what I'm talking about then, read on. If not, you haven't seen Bodies in Motion, and you shouldn't read this. If I owned them, I sure as hell wouldn't have come up with THAT. Anyways, on with it.**

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Catherine honestly couldn't remember feeling this empty. She couldn't remember being in the state she was now. Someone could have easily knocked her to the ground with a feather. She stood still; letting the gold gleam of Warrick's wedding band slowly, painfully, cut her. It had been so long since Eddie's cheating had forced her to build walls around her heart, and it had taken her a while to do that. Her walls had been tested, and even been cracked a few times since then, but they had stood. Until now. Over the years, her walls had stood, mainly, because of Warrick. He had become her rock, in many ways, and now, she felt herself torn to pieces, her walls downed by the man who had helped her build them. It was all so wrong, she decided as she tried to ignore the bashfully ecstatic tone of the voice she knew so well as Warrick told the cops about his marriage. Trying to turn her attention back to the case, she caught the 4 hour time frame that David placed the victim's T.O.D. with in, and she found herself unable to stop the jab that came out of her mouth. "Almost as long as Warrick's been married." The look on Warrick's face told her that he knew where she was coming from, and he wasn't going to put up with her shit. Which, of course just made her love him even more. As Warrick made a quick exit, she couldn't help but fight the urge to cry. Just like that, with a simple observation of Warrick's ring finger, her life had been turned upside down. And now, it seemed Warrick was too embarrassed to be even her friend anymore. Not that she blamed him after she'd been such a bitch. God, why did she always do that? Say things without thinking about them. Yep, her life officially sucked. She tried to turn her attention back to the case, but quickly came to a realization. It was never going to work.

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Warrick was silent as he drove back to the lab, his mind drifting to Catherine's response to his marriage. He honestly didn't know what to do about it. He'd hurt her, he knew that, and he also knew that her reaction was exactly what his would have been if their positions had been reversed. He honestly hadn't thought about the other people that his marriage would affect. He'd talked to his grandmother, sure, but he hadn't gone much beyond that. And he couldn't blame Catherine for being hurt by that. Truth be told, he'd have been devastated in her position. But that was a bit different. You see Warrick had admitted to himself about three or four years ago that he loved Catherine. And no amount of Tina was going to change that. But, Warrick had realized, with Nick's "kid"napping that life was short. Warrick was a realistic guy. He'd realized quickly after he'd admitted to himself his love for Catherine that he could never have her. So, reluctantly he'd resigned himself to the fact that he "loved" Tina. What was wrong with him?

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Finally, about an hour and a half later Catherine had collected herself enough to work. That's what she was doing when she felt rather then heard or saw Warrick walk into the a/v lab she was working in. She did, however smell him. From across the room she could smell the mixture of Old Spice, coffee, fingerprint powder, and the various other scents he encountered during the day. It wouldn't have been anything particularly pleasant, but when she added the fact that it was _his_ scent, her favorite lavender shampoo and conditioner paled in comparison. And with that thought, she had to fight the self-pity again. She collected herself, realizing that he was talking to her.

"Poor guys," she teased, unable to be too openly mad at him. He sighed.

"So, about this whole marriage thing," he started, clearly wanting to talk about her reaction.

"Yeah, that kinda threw me for a loop," she said, her voice faltering a little. "Tina was it?" He gave her a sad smile that poured salt in her wound and nodded. "She must be a special girl," she said, feigning happiness.

"Yeah, she's…" Catherine cut him off with work, not really caring to hear him list the things he loved about his new wife. _Wife_. The word left a bitter after taste in her mouth that she tried to push it to the back of her mind.

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Warrick sighed as he walked in to the layout room Catherine was in. He greeted her, talking about the case, but after a few seconds he realized that this was not going to work.

"Cat, can we talk? About this?" he asked, fingering his wedding band. When she looked up, and he saw the amount of pain that was in her eyes, that _he_ had caused, and he was glad he was leaning a little on the layout table. He sighed. "You know this thing with Nick. It just got me thinking. Life's short, you know. So I went ahead and asked this girl I've been seeing, Tina, to marry me." It was Catherine's turn to sigh as she realized what he wanted to hear.

"You know I'm happy for you 'rick." And she was. But her pain was clearly getting in the way of her showing that.

"Yeah? But it also seems like you're not so happy for me."

"'rick…"Catherine sighed, then snickered at herself, then sighed again, then snickered again. After a relatively long while, she sighed a final time, and drawing a breath said, " The thing that makes a fantasy great is the possibility that it might come true. When you lose that possibility it just kinda…sucks."

Warrick winced, and giving her a sympathetic smile, said, "Yeah. I get it. Cat…are we cool?" She sighed, and then, giving him a half-smile, nodded.

"Of course."

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For the rest of shift Catherine tried to act "normal" around Warrick, not letting her pain get in the way of their friendship. For the most part she succeeded. She was still, however glad when she could stop pretending as she climbed into her SUV at the end of shift. Her eyes welled up as her mind flew through all of the memories she had with Warrick. _Him expertly getting Lindsey out of the way so she could chew Eddie up. Him calling her up after he'd fallen for a junkie he couldn't be with, or at her conference hotel room after he'd blown the Aimee Phelps case, or way back when he'd indirectly gotten Holly killed, or after Nick's near death by a stalker. Him holding her after she'd been attacked at a scene, and after Eddie'd been shot. A storm drain and a bet on a basketball game and a phone call after a nightmare about a glass coffin only last week. On and on the memories flowed. _By now her tears had become silent sobs, flowing as quickly as the memories. She didn't know how long she'd been crying when Warrick opened up the passenger side door and climbed in beside her. Without a word he pulled her to him, which made her cry harder. He held her patiently, apparently not caring about the fact that Nick and Grissom would be waiting to celebrate his marriage. After a while, she pulled away smiling at him.

"I'm sorry, 'rick. You should probably go. Nick'll be waiting," she pointed out, her voice catching a little. Warrick just stared at her. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Cat…Are you sure we're cool, because I'm not feeling like we are." She sighed.

"'rick, I promise we're okay. I just need a little time to get used to the fact that we shouldn't be as close as we were."

"That's just it Cath, I don't want us to lose any of that. Is there anything I can do to make sure we don't?" In his eyes was an anguish that Catherine had never seen in him, after all that she'd seen him through. She reached over to give his hand a squeeze.

"I know what marriage can be like 'rick. I don't even think it's the pain of losing the fantasy anymore. I'm just afraid that she's gonna hurt you." Warrick sighed, finally seeing where she was coming from. Catherine was one to look forward instead of backward. Every once in a while she saw something that scared her. This time, she'd seen him in emotional danger, and apparently that was worse then what she'd seen before. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face, wiping away a tear as he did so.

"Cat…I really don't know what to say to that. But, I do know this. Our friendship means even more to me then you'll ever know. I can't lose that. If this marriage thing turns out to be the second biggest mistake of my life… I'll need it." Catherine reached over and wiped away a tear that had fallen against his will. He pulled her to him, a gesture that by now felt so natural. He hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head as she hugged him back.

"You'll always have me 'rick."

As she drove away, having said good bye to Warrick, she couldn't help giving a humorless smile when Gwen Stefani's _Cool_ started playing on the radio.

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**So, you like it? You hate it? You never want to see it ever ever ever again. LET ME KNOW!**


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